Teaching Concepts Effectively

Here's a great example from Sharon on teaching concepts:

"I was recently at my brother’s house and heard my 6-year old niece ask him to explain 'positive thinking.' My brother said it was when you look for the positive in a situation. Not a half-bad explanation, but it clearly didn’t register and my niece walked away looking puzzled.

Soon she asked me the same question. I defined positive thinking the same as my brother. I then offered an example and said it would be like wanting a chocolate cupcake and finding there are none left, but looking at the positive that you have other flavors to chose from. I further provided a non-example and told her that having a temper tantrum about not getting a chocolate cupcake in this same scenario is

Now you know the secret to effectively teaching concepts! Ruth Colvin Clark says 'When teaching concepts, you must always provide a definition and examples of the concept. If possible, you can also provide non-examples and analogies.'  

Evidence of the effectiveness of this method was heard later that evening when my sister-in-law chided my niece for not picking up her toys from the yard. My niece turned and said, 'Mom, you need positive thinking. I picked up some of my toys.'"